Coalition is targeting growth in west hills

A coalition of local government leaders across Salt Lake County has agreed to get involved in the early planning stages of what is likely to be an explosion of growth on the county's west bench.

The Salt Lake County Council of Governments, an association of municipal leaders throughout the county, unanimously agreed to two separate motions Thursday, bringing the group into the ground-level planning as cities, developers and other stakeholders look to the future of the Salt Lake Valley's last big developable frontier.

Kennecott Land, a sister company of Kennecott Utah Copper, asked the COG to play a role in its vision for a multiparty process of hashing out the hows, whens and whats of future development of its 93,000 acres along the Oquirrh Mountains. The land is owned by Kennecott and has been used in its decades of mining operations. But now that mining is winding down, Kennecott sees an opportunity to create the next wave of growth in the Salt Lake Valley — and to make sure it is done under a coherent plan.

The COG joins several other groups, including the County Council, that have agreed to take part now, even before any concrete ideas have been presented.

Above and beyond Kennecott, there will be a host of players in west-side growth, including city governments, community councils, developers, water districts and residents. One group, the Salt Lake County Trails Advisory Board, worries the growth could end up blocking off important corridors for future trails systems.

Greg Schulz, the board's chairman, asked the COG to support efforts to receive state funding for a trails study that the group hopes will identify — and ultimately help preserve — areas that are prime for biking, walking, hiking and other activities.

"The truth is, the west side is pretty much an open, clean slate right now, so (we hope to) identify these areas early, at least putting the seeds there so that whoever wanted to develop them later, since we've made this identification, it would improve their ability to be developed," Schulz told the Deseret Morning News.

The COG agreed, unanimously indicating support for a draft letter that would call on the Utah Legislature to support the funding.

"I firmly believe urban trails and multi-use trails are something that's going to be heavily used in the future," Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan said.

He said transportation planning often focuses on roads and mass transit, but an urban trail system should be a high priority as well.

---

E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com